Visa, presenting its Security Roadmap 2023-2025, expressed confidence in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and said that the island’s economy can rebound with this increasing number of tourist arrivals.
Given the statistics, Visa believes that tourism will underpin a very important part of this recovery.
Tourism contributes 12 to percent of GDP and is third largest source of foreign exchange and MICE events in Sri Lanka to attract corporate tourism and ‘bleisure’ (business and leisure) travellers; expected to bring in USD 300 million and more travellers to the country, the security roadmap cited. “Why does Visa have an opinion on all of this? Our view is that, in order for tourism to really regain its momentum we believe payments are an important part of the overall journey,” Joe Cunningham, Visa’s Head of Risk for the Asia Pacific region, said.
“In the realm of tourism, Visa also firmly believes that small and medium enterprises would be a foundation of this recovery. Payments mean that these businesses have a chance to thrive, as every economy worldwide has shifted from cash to digital and they have enjoyed the benefits of less friction, lower cost, more efficiency and better money management.”
The company says that it is excited that the physical payment infrastructure in Sri Lanka is world class.
“Our clients have made investments so tourists have the same experience as they would have back home, specifically secure, global-standard when it comes to chip technology and contact-less payment,” he said, highlighting the importance of seamless experience that international travellers expect.
E-commerce is just as important as the physical world. “We want the online experience to be just the same; just as secure, just as convenient”. He further elaborated on this importance through the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Going digital can save businesses. Not only did consumers have to go online for goods and services, but also small businesses went online initially to survive and are now thriving”.
Given the precedent, Visa believes in bolstering tourism by safe, secure and convenient digital payments.
Cunningham said that Visa is looking forward to overcome challenges in Sri Lanka such as phishing attacks and scams and add more e-commerce participants.
The company’s security roadmap further mentions investing in digital infrastructure and improving security as a huge step in earning consumers’ trust and improving tourist experience in the country. Networks like Visa also have their own mechanisms to detect fraudulent transactions as per risk levels; Visa tokens have led to a 28 percent reduction in fraud rates and a three percent increase in approval rates – increasing sales for merchants while saving them money on fraud-related expenses.